A One Mann’s Movies review of “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (2023).
This documentary “Still” has an ironic title since Michael J. Fox is never “still” thanks to his Parkinson’s Disease. Hell, looking at his life, the guy has NEVER been still. This is a fascinating look behind the scenes at a celebrity fighting against a deadly foe.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Michael J. Fox recounts the story of his movie career and how he worked through his debilitating diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC: “Strong Language”).
Talent:
Starring: Michael J. Fox.
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim.
Written by: Michael J. Fox.
Twitter Handle: #STILL.
A re-enacted scene. BTTF suddenly makes Fox the biggest thing since sliced bread. (Source: Apple TV+)
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Review:
Positives:
- The film is really in two parts: a biopic of Michael J. Fox’s career with this being intercut with his current struggles against his Parkinson’s disease. The biopic part uses actors to restage elements of the story, but there are also enough clips of Fox in all of his film and TV appearances to drop in real shots of him reacting to situations (often out of context!). You have to pay homage to the film’s research team here who must have watched hours upon hours of “Family Ties” and “Spin City” episodes to catalogue all of those potential shots! The scenes of his work between 1990 and 1996, when Fox was secretly battling the disease, were particularly fascinating (and also distressing, his left hand constantly ‘doing something’ to avoid the tremors being evident).
- Some elements of his story – principally the scheduling conflict between the filming of “Back to the Future” and “Family Ties” – I already knew. But the re-enactment of that chaotic period, featuring two ‘teamster’ drivers picking him up and dropping him off at home with just a few short hours between, is very well done and illustrates just how chaotic his life was.
- The film nicely portrays Fox’s positive attitude to cracking on with his life as best he can. What else could you do, I guess? But whereas a lot of folks would crumble under the weight of his disease (I’d like to *think* I would do the same!), he is out trying to use physio to improve his function, fundraising for Parkinson’s and living his best-possible life with his long-term wife Tracy Pollan and his grown-up family. And his sense of humour shines through. A clip of him giving an exploding bottle of coke to Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and then blaming his Parkinson’s is hilarious.
- But this is not some “rah rah” gloss on either Fox or his illness. The interviewer (presumably the director Davis Guggenheim) has a cutting line in questions that occasionally catch the actor off balance (no pun intended). When he discusses how unreasonable he was on set sometimes, Guggenheim asks “So, you were a bit of a dick?”. And once – just once – Fox’s mask of steady calm drops during a treatment session and he admits to having acute spasms of pain, something Guggenheim again leaps on in the interview.
Negatives:
- The ‘biopic’ part of the movie features actors playing ‘young Fox’, his father, Robert Redford, Woody Harrelson, etc. This may be a personal thing, but I found that a bit annoying and unnecessary. I would rather have had a more factual description of the events and then talking heads, from the likes of Zemeckis and others involved, to bring it to life.
- The film is full of clips of his TV programmes and films, but I would have loved some little subtitles on the screen to indicate what they were. That would have helped this cinephile fill in some IMDB knowledge gaps! The film seems to automatically assume that the viewer KNOWS that was “Teen Wolf”, “Doc Hollywood”, “Mars Attacks!” etc.
Summary Thoughts on “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
As a ‘part biopic / part documentary’, I really enjoyed the documentary part and the glimpse into Fox’s current medical struggles. I was less of a fan of the way that the biopic part was done, but – hey – that might just be a personal view.
Parkinson’s is a terrible disease: one I have personal experience of, as it took my father. Michael J. Fox certainly deserves our respect in having the sense of humour and the positive attitude to live life to the full. Here’s hoping that the medical advances can find a cure for this vicious disease before too long .
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Trailer for “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHgMSR4F1Ak .
